State v. Roberts

On September 17, 1917, the Prosecuting Attorney of Boone County filed an information charging the defendant with murder in the first degree for having shot and killed William A. Ryland on July 30, 1917. There was a trial and conviction which was reversed on appeal, and the cause remanded for a new trial. [State v. Roberts, 280 Mo. 669.] On November 15, 1920, the cause again went to trial before a jury, resulting in a verdict of guilty of murder in the second degree, and assessing the punishment at imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of twenty-five years.

The only living eye-witnesses…